Discograffiti

Discograffiti is the deep-dive podcast for music obsessives. This is the interview you’d hope for if you prayed for all the things you wanted Hal Blaine to talk about in a stream of consciousness style, without a filter: what it was like to work with an acid-addled Brian Wilson; how it felt working at The Beach Boys home studio with the rest of the group; attempting to work with Joe Thomas; how it felt having Murry Wilson around; working with a wildly inebriated John Phillips; and how he feels he got accepted into his senior living community. This entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series is the second part of Chuck’s chat with Brian Wilson’s favorite drummer, legendary studio maestro Hal Blaine. It’s not hard to understand why Brian worked with him so often: Hal claimed to have participated in over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one. Chuck’s interview with Hal took place while the latter was living in a retirement community, and the tone is definitely “no shits given” by this point. Hal passed away a few years later in 2019, which makes this posthumously released “Chuck Chat” yet another priceless buried treasure.   There’ll be a short sneak peak running publicly for free, but the entirety of this podcast will only be accessible on the Major Tier of Discograffiti’s Patreon. Don’t miss it, or you’ll only be getting part of the story. Get it as a one-off, or better yet just subscribe…and then we’ll all have world peace. Full Episode: Patreon.com/Discograffiti (available on the Major Tier & up) Free Sneak Peek: linktr.ee/discograffiti Subscribe to Discograffiti's Patreon and receive a ceaseless barrage (4 shows a week!) of must-hear binge-listening. It’s completely free to be a basic member, $1 to get your backstage pass, $5/month for the weekly Sunday show by & for our community, $10 for weekly early release, ad-free, super-extended Director's Cuts of the main show plus access to half our Patreon episode archive, & $20 for Discograffiti’s weekly bonus episodes and access to our entire Patreon episode archive. There are now over 300 Patreon episodes.

Discograffiti is the deep-dive podcast for music obsessives.  In this episode, host Dave Gebroe talks with the epitome of DIY punk spirit (who can also write a pop hook like the best of ‘em), Unrest’s Mark Robinson, and together they discuss Billy Joel’s entire recorded output with commentary, stories, and star ratings for every release. Part 7 covers the era during which Billy catches his manager’s hand thrust deep in the cookie jar, Christie Brinkley divorces him, he stops writing pop music, dips his toe in classical waters, his drinking starts getting super scary, he gets married again, his third wife gives him a rehab ultimatum, he gets divorced a third time, and then gets married yet again. And he also manages to make and release Storm Front, River Of Dreams, and Fantasies And Delusions. The goal for this and the previous episode was to make great art about bad art, to create two podcast episodes in inverse qualitative proportion to the rock bottom records being discussed. Mark and Dave accomplished their goal. Here are just a few of the many things that Mark discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast: The crazed embezzlement fall-out with Billy’s manager Frank Weber;  Why we have Sean Ono Lennon to thank for “We Didn’t Start The Fire”; Billy’s Shelter Island Sessions, which collapsed and then transformed into River Of Dreams; Billy’s swerve into the classical lane with Fantasies And Delusions; And an in-depth deep dive on every song off Storm Front and River Of Dreams. Listen: linktr.ee/discograffiti I support a wife and a six-year-old son with Discograffiti as my sole source of income.  The Director’s Cut of this episode is ad-free and features a plethora of additional essential material. Support Discograffiti by opting for this clearly superior version. Either subscribe to Discograffiti’s Patreon at the Lieutenant or Major Tier, or just grab the episode as a one-off at the same link. The Director’s Cut: Patreon.com/Discograffiti

Discograffiti is the deep-dive podcast for music obsessives. In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series. Chuck and legendary bassist Carol Kaye are close friends, so this exceptional interview goes incredibly deep in its search for the truth. Carol is one of the most prolific bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings during a career spanning over 65 years. She actually started doing session work in 1957 on guitar, and after a bassist failed to turn up to a session in 1963, she switched to that instrument, quickly making a name for herself as one of the most in-demand session players of the 1960s. She’s appeared on sessions by Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and The Monkees. The intro on Glen Campbell's “Wichita Lineman”? She came up with that. Of course, that’s also Carol plucking away on The Beach Boys albums Today!, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), Pet Sounds, and Smile. Most famously, Kaye's bass lines are the driving force behind “Good Vibrations”, one of her many number 1 hits.  Here’s just a few of the many things that Carol discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast: The truth about Mike Love; The first time she crossed paths with Brian Wilson; Working with Murry Wilson; The three times that Carol had Brian and Marilyn over to her house. There’ll be a short sneak peak running publicly for free, but the entirety of this podcast will only be accessible on the Major Tier of Discograffiti’s Patreon. Don’t miss it, or you’ll only be getting part of the story. Get it as a one-off, or better yet just subscribe…and then we’ll all have world peace. Full Episode: Patreon.com/Discograffiti (available on the Major Tier & up) Free Sneak Peek: linktr.ee/discograffiti Subscribe to Discograffiti's Patreon and receive a ceaseless barrage (4 shows a week!) of must-hear binge-listening. It’s completely free to be a basic member, $1 to get your backstage pass, $5/month for the weekly Sunday show by & for our community, $10 for weekly early release, ad-free, super-extended Director's Cuts of the main show plus access to half our Patreon episode archive, & $20 for Discograffiti’s weekly bonus episodes and access to our entire Patreon episode archive. There are now over 300 Patreon episodes.

Discograffiti is the deep-dive podcast for music obsessives.  In this episode, host Dave Gebroe talks with the epitome of DIY punk spirit (who can also write a pop hook like the best of ‘em), the great Mark Robinson (of Unrest, Grenadine, Air Miami, Flin Flon, Uncomfortable Police, et al), and together they discuss Billy Joel’s entire recorded output with commentary, stories, and star ratings for every release. If you’re a long-time listener, then you know that Dave has harbored a long-time hatred of Billy Joel…so why the sudden turnaround in taste? Part 6 covers the time after his divorce, a time when most people tend to sit around and sulk, but not Billy—he dated multiple supermodels, settled down with one, and became happy to an extent that managed to prove conclusively that great art absolutely can not be created by very happy people. And he also managed to make and release An Innocent Man and The Bridge.  The goal for this and the next episode was to make great art about bad art, to create two podcast episodes in inverse qualitative proportion to the rock bottom records being discussed. Mark and Dave accomplished their goal. Here are just a few of the many things that Mark discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast: That time when Billy’s music became more ubiquitous than oxygen, and how he—and more importantly we—dealt with that; The various acts and song styles that Billy co-opted to create An Innocent Man; The unfortunate, damaging effect that An Innocent Man had on Dave’s perception of Billy Joel and his music, until only recently; The wildly successful Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & 2, which went double diamond and whose two new tracks both became hits; The heavy Huey Lewis & The News, Sting, and Cyndi Lauper vibe of The Bridge; And an in-depth deep dive on every song off An Innocent Man and The Bridge. Listen: linktr.ee/discograffiti I support a wife and a six-year-old son with Discograffiti as my sole source of income.  The Director’s Cut of this episode is ad-free and features a plethora of additional essential material. Support Discograffiti by opting for this clearly superior version. Either subscribe to Discograffiti’s Patreon at the Lieutenant or Major Tier, or just grab the episode as a one-off at the same link. The Director’s Cut: Patreon.com/Discograffiti

Discograffiti is the deep-dive podcast for music obsessives. In this episode, we feature the next entry in The Chuck Granata Pet Sounds Interview Series. By now, Beach Boy Bruce Johnston has retired from being interviewed, so this epic, unheard 2001 interview for Chuck Granata’s Pet Sounds book is absolutely priceless…especially seeing as his fanboy love for Chuck’s Frank Sinatra book wound up contributing to a level of unvarnished honesty that’s super-rare for The Beach Boy universe.  Here’s just a few of the many things that Bruce discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast: Bruce’s opinion of Smiley Smile; What it’s like to be scolded in a session and to have it actually make the final mix; Bruce’s efforts to promote Pet Sounds in England at the time; Bruce’s advice to Chuck on how best to approach the various Beach Boys in order to get the most out of his interviews with them; And the roles that the group members played, both in the vocal blend and in their importance to Brian. There’ll be a short sneak peak running publicly for free, but the entirety of this podcast will only be accessible on the Major Tier of Discograffiti’s Patreon. Don’t miss it, or you’ll only be getting part of the story. Get it as a one-off, or better yet just subscribe…and then we’ll all have world peace. Full Episode: Patreon.com/Discograffiti (available on the Major Tier & up) Free Sneak Peek: linktr.ee/discograffiti Subscribe to Discograffiti's Patreon and receive a ceaseless barrage (4 shows a week!) of must-hear binge-listening. It’s completely free to be a basic member, $1 to get your backstage pass, $5/month for the weekly Sunday show by & for our community, $10 for weekly early release, ad-free, super-extended Director's Cuts of the main show plus access to half our Patreon episode archive, & $20 for Discograffiti’s weekly bonus episodes and access to our entire Patreon episode archive. There are now over 300 Patreon episodes.